Consubstantiation

Consubstantiation, doctrine of the Eucharist affirming that Christ’s body and blood substantially coexist with the consecrated bread and wine. The term is unofficially and inaccurately used to describe the Lutheran doctrine of the Real Presence; namely, that the body and blood of Christ are present to the communicant “in, with, and under” the elements of bread and wine. Consubstantiation differs radically from the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, which asserts that the total substance of bread and wine are changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ at the moment of consecration in such a way that only the appearances of the original elements remain.

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in Christianity, ritual commemoration of Jesus ’ Last Supper with his disciples, at which (according to tradition) he gave them bread with the words, “This is my body,” and wine with the words, “This is my blood.” The story of the institution of the Eucharist by...

in Christianity, the change by which the substance (though not the appearance) of the bread and wine in the Eucharist becomes Christ’s Real Presence —that is, his body and blood. In Roman Catholicism and some other Christian churches the doctrine, which was first called...

Luther taught the doctrine of consubstantiation, though he never used that term. He believed that the Lord’s Supper was one of the central mysteries of the faith and that the body of Christ was physically present in the communion offering because Christ said, “This is my body.” Therefore, Christ’s body must be “with, in, and under” the elements of the offering. The bread...